C# Version Of SQL LIKE

Question

Is there any way to search patterns in strings in C#?

Something like Sql LIKE would be very useful.

Answer 1

As aready proposed in this answer and this other answer Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.Operators.LikeString could be a good option for simple tasks, when a RegExp is overkill. Syntax is different from RegExp and SQL LIKE operator, but it's really simple to learn (mainly because it's also very limited).

Assembly Microsoft.VisualBasic must be added as a reference to the project to use this method.

For more information see Operators.LikeString Method and for a description of the syntax see Like Operator (Visual Basic).

It can be used as an extension method to String class:

/// 

/// Visual Basic like operator. Performs simple, case insensitive, string pattern matching.
/// 
/// 
///  ? = Any single character. * = Zero or more characters. # = Any single digit (0–9)
/// true if the string matches the pattern
public static bool Like(this string thisString, string pattern)
    => Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.Operators
        .LikeString(thisString, pattern, Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompareMethod.Text);